I only recently discovered Blind Guardian. Typically listened to thrash, rarely power metal. Man, what excellence. Brilliant vocals, great choruses, distinct and unique sense of melody both on guitar and vocals. Something I really love about them is that vocals, guitars, and drums all have very prominent and distinct parts. In many bands I feel like one instrument will often dominate and the band becomes boring. I.e. great vocals, no guitar solos or great guitar but could care less for vocals. When I started listening to Blind Guardian and heard a chorus for the first time, I thought “Dang that was awesome, but I bet the guitar solo will suck or not exist”…and MAN was I wrong. Brilliant vocals and brilliant guitar work. And then that drumming is just always going. My life is 2% better for having found them.
I still consider "Nightfall in middle earth" one of the best albums of all times. I remember waiting in front of the recordstore on the releasday in 1998, came home and listened to it from start to finish a few times while reading the newest "Rock Hard" magazine, good times. Even today it's one of the few albums I still enjoy listening from start to finish.
I discovered that album in 1999 (via Hansi's "Demons and Wizards" project with Iced Earth), and it's one of the few metal albums I still listen to regularly 25 years later. (It really helps if you've read some of the Silmarillion, of course.) Hard to pick a favorite track since it's so consistently excellent, but maybe "The Curse of Feanor" gets the most play.
Also, attending a BG concert at the old Graceland in Seattle back in 2004 or so and singing along to "The Bard's Song" with a few hundred other fans who knew all the words was definitely a peak geek moment.
The start of “Into the storm” after Morgoth says “She, the mistress of her own lust” on a spoken intro track gives me the shivers to this day and I still consider it the best banging start of the album I have ever heard.
“Into the Storm” is just brilliant. Punching intro, vocals come in for a little “soft” intro themselves, and then vocals go hard (“where can I run”) and we’re off to the races. I’m typically a guitar guy, but man I really enjoy Hansi’s talents to compose vocals…mixing moods, styles, speed, all in the span of a few verses. Reminds me of “Time Stands Still”. That second verse comes in real self-reflective and interior like (“I stand alone”) and then BOOM “I dare you!!!”.
I definitely consider NIME to be best BG album. They tried to replicate the same level of complexity in their follow up albums, but the sound engineering and mixing just never felt the same. NIME sounds crisp and clear and every after is too layered and muddy
It seems to me that there are remasters that improved things a bit. I've always liked "A Night at the Opera", but it sounded strangely hollow, a bit like classical music or Metallica's Saint Anger. The 2017 remaster sounds more like metal. AFAICT, it's quite well done, not one of these shitty remasters that just increases compression and calls it a day.
Here in Spain they were arguably the biggest power metal band ever. Shirts with their art were very common - a tier below Maiden shirts, but putting up a respectable fight in popularity. They also filled some of the best venues - not stadiums, but the tier right below, the premium venues, which I think is a great achievement for such a niche genre.
When I was a kid I loved some of their classics like Mirror Mirror, but I wasn't as much into them as some of my entourage, as I preferred other styles of vocals. Recently however I've come to appreciate them again because Spotify suggested "Sacred Worlds" from the album Edge of Time. I love fully orchestrated metal - Metallica's S&M with the San Fran Symphonic or Nightwish's Once with the London Philarmonic - and "Sacred Worlds" is an absolute banger within this rare subgenre.
It's funny, "Mirror Mirror" is the biggest hit from NIME but it's my least favorite track on the album. I'm not a huge fan overall of ANATO but "Precious Jerusalem" might be their most epic chorus ever.
Oh the little bridge before the chorus is even more majestic, gives me goosebumps every time.
I used to "hate" ANATO for a long time but now it's easily my favourite from them and every time I listen to it it gets better. It's one of a handful of albums that to this day I can sit down and do nothing but listen to the music. No multitasking. (Though I guess trying to pick out each vocal track is a very multitasking activity).
I had forgotten about that one - it was actually my favorite cut too. The chorus is indeed a banger - extremely creative. I think Mirror Mirror was the more popular track because it had an anthem quality to it. Easier to sing with your friends at a bar or a concert, while Precious Jerusalem is pretty much progressive metal.
Thanks for the recommendation, I knew they had done that but had never listened to it. Love me some Scorpions and of course Berlin Philarmoniker is cream of the crop.
Blind Guardian is well known in Europe, but very little overseas. I went to a concert once and the mood was really good. The crowd sang for themselves for half an hour. The band was going for 3 hours altogether. Everyone was friendly (nothing else I expected with power metal).
And all of South America. They could do a concert in almost any big city in Brazil and fill up the place. And also not sing, as people would sing every single song for them.
I don’t know much about it, other than knowing some of my favorite bands have huge followings there. Can anybody educate me how the Japanese metal scene functions? Are there certain genres that have a hold or is it totally diverse?
Eh, if you're gonna link a Reddit thread on it, you may as well just invite /u/tokyometal to this forum and have 'em answer directly - they're effectively the only authority of the underground metal scene over there.
My initial comment was moreso based on the number of limited releases that Japan's gotten from metal albums over the years, coupled with touring there being more complicated - so when bands _do_ get to tour over there, it's usually a crazy good show. Drives demand, etc.
In fairness, early BG very much aligns more with speed metal, which is a fairly close sibling to thrash. It was that vector that got me into them more than my latter appreciation for power metal in all its bombastic soaring-vocal glory.
European/german power metal bands tend to be more speed metal based. American power metal retained closeness to heavy metal more. I would recommend him to try out bands like Helstar and Jag Panzer next.
If you like thrash and great vocals, check out Forbidden if you haven't. Late 80s early 90s technical thrash whose singer has some wild range. Twisted Into Form is their best album IMO. Their reunion album Omega Wave is also excellent.
Had a very similar feel when I discovered Domine as a teenager… the temes are also very varied. You can see what the band was reading (in terms of fantasy novels) through the years :)
One thing that's changed my metal taste is going to metal festivals that mish mash everything together and making an effort to just go see bands who I have no idea about even if I listen to their music and am unsure about liking it.
One of my favorite things about metal is how diverse it is and sometimes it just gets silly even if it appears absolutely serious - I think seeing the bands when they are having the most fun let's them try things you won't see in their music or videos or even on a regular tour.
In case anyone is into video games and power metal and lives somewhere near Madison WI there is a festival called Mad With Power my wife found last year that falls into the bucket of how is this even a thing but it's a joy to experience.
There are also a few metal cruises I've been on that are absolutely not what you'd expect and are mostly people hugging everyone and have things like cupcake decorating classes.
If you ever get a chance, I'd recommend seeing either of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra touring bands. Their show is a pretty spectacular mishmash of everything... and Christmas.
Saw them a few years ago at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. Cramped venue for a Metal concert, still one of the best I have ever been. Of course here in Europe they mostly played Savatage songs.
> There are also a few metal cruises I've been on that are absolutely not what you'd expect and are mostly people hugging everyone and have things like cupcake decorating classes.
What cruises are you talking about? I've been on seven iterations of the US-based 70kTons cruise, which AFAIK is the oldest and biggest metal cruise. And while people there are generally very friendly and awesome, I've never seen cupcake decorating classes. Instead, people were discussing drum techniques, beer and whisky, metal music and concerts...pretty much exactly what you'd expect on such an event. The most exquisite topics were probably politics and costumes (there's sort of an unofficial costume contest on the last day of that cruise).
If you like the harder blind guardian songs more (like mirror mirror) have a look at the band Persuader. The singer somewhat randomly sounds like Hansi kürsch and all their songs are more towards speed/heavy metal but with clear power metal influence.
